Power consumption and battery life are major concerns in remote or inaccessible data loop recorders, such as deployed field equipment or medical sensors. Data loop recorders typically sample data when triggered by a specific event. The data is stored for later reading, downloading or transmission. Often, it is desirable to capture data that precedes the triggering event (i.e. pre-event data) as well as post-event data. Because the exact time that a triggering event will occur is unknown, the data loop recorder memory must be powered-on at all times in order to capture pre-event data. This requires higher power consumption than desired in devices that are already power limited by battery capacity. As a result, the available memory, functionality, and longevity in battery-powered data loop recorders are limited.